Mark Robins rues costly loss of concentration as Coventry go down to Burnley

Posted Sunday, January 15, 2023 by PA

Manager Mark Robins felt his battling Coventry team lost to a blatant piece of gamesmanship as leaders Burnley secured a 1-0 victory at Turf Moor.

The Sky Blues had been the better team in the first half and defended well as the Clarets stepped up the pace, aided by Vincent Kompany’s substitutions, after the break.

But the game hinged on an incident in the 81st minute which Robins claims disrupted his young defence’s concentration.

Clarets substitute Nathan Tella tangled with goalkeeper Ben Wilson after both had contested a cross and the confrontation escalated into a shoving match inside the goal, involving several players from both sides.

Referee David Webb calmed the situation by booking Wilson and Tella but from the resulting corner from Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Jordan Beyer was unmarked to head home the winner.

Robins was angry his young defence had switched off and said the absence of centre-back Kyle McFadzean through injury was key.

He said: “What won them the game was deliberate – they ran into the goalkeeper and grabbed the goalkeeper.

“It’s changed the way that we were thinking as we focused on that and not the corner and that’s the biggest disappointment for me.

“It’s not them that has beaten us, we’ve beaten ourselves because we haven’t done the job properly of heading a corner out.

“That goes to young defenders learning on the job and we are missing McFadzean – if McFadzean plays we don’t concede that goal, no chance.”

Coventry had been the better team in the first half, with Viktor Gyokeres leading the line superbly and masterminding three chances which were spurned by team-mates.

He twice teed up Jamie Allen in the opening 10 minutes, only for the midfielder to get his shots all wrong, and then combined with Ben Sheaf to send Kasey Palmer towards goal – this time Ian Maatsen’s last-ditch lunge diverted the shot round the post.

Shortly after the break Gyokeres almost scored himself, latching on to Beyer’s under-hit back-pass and homing in on goal, only for keeper Aro Muric’s challenge to force him across goal, where Josh Brownhill sprinted back to put in a goal-saving challenge.

Kompany, whose team have now won 11 of their last 12 in the league, admitted they were second-best in the first 45 minutes.

“They were that good,” he said. “We couldn’t find space to create danger and we couldn’t get to grips with three or four players who kept getting away from pressure.

“In the first half we were nowhere near it. I can’t complain about the second half which was really good but the first half we were nowhere near it. We weren’t ourselves.”

Kompany made changes, taking off Jack Cork at half-time after he was booked – his 10th of the season, which means he will get a two-match suspension.

The energy injected by Tella and Gudmundsson was key and Kompany was delighted with the response.

Gudmundsson, as well as providing the corner for the only goal, twice drilled in dangerous crosses that should have brought goals.

The first found its way to Manuel Benson, whose normally trusty left foot skied it high over the bar, while the second landed on the head of Tella, with Wilson clawing the ball away to make his first save an hour into the game.

Kompany added: “This team is resourceful. Where we are in the league it’s most important to keep our standards high and never brush away what happened in the first half and make sure it never happens again.

“They did everything they had to do during the week but it just didn’t happen for us in the first half.

“In the second half the message was simple. We just told them that ‘it’s life’ and put it behind you and you still have 45 minutes where you can play the greatest game you’ve ever played.

“I really don’t want the first half to take away from how we played in the second half. We forced Coventry to change their system. They are a good team that is well drilled.”